Home Sweet Home

The school library-notice the bed? :)

I am back home (AK) and have been for a few weeks. It is great to be back; I'm eagerly anticipating the start of the new school year. The school has been flipped upside down and in utter chaos; contractors in and out all the time.

My classroom--I get my own room this year :)

Currently we have 1 plumber, 2 painters, three electricians, and a foreman on the job. Yesterday four guys working on ducts left, and the flooring guys left. They are rotating in and out as things are ready here and in another nearby village. They've made great progress in two weeks, including laying most of the carpet, painting many of the rooms, wiring the fire alarm system. It will look great when it's all said and done. :)

Kat and Pam in Kat's classroom

I have moved into another new house (I could be the Tunt teacher housing expert ;) it is much nicer and Rocky is much happier, having more room to run inside and less traffic outside. We are maybe 50 yards back from the other house but it makes a huge difference in regards to the number of passerby's.

My arctic entry, and storage room

The Kitchen, to the right is a door where my water tank and furnace are. I have a 650 gallon water tank--a HUGE improvement over 150 gallons :)

The Dining Room

My living room

My bathroom, Mark (the maintenance man is working on installing a flush toilet and sewer system)

For those of you who missed the picture my first year, this is my toilet; it is called an incinolet it burns the waste. Look at all the room I have in my bathroom :) TONS of storage.
My pantry, the first time I've had one and I'm loving it :)
My bedroom
My Closet; again tons of storage the closet stretches floor to ceiling wall to wall, a double sliding door in the middle and then on each side of the sliding doors are there is the smaller door which has four shelves inside and four drawers beneath it.

My Office, sewing/craft room, exercise room I also have an extra bed I can put together in this room for anyone who would like to venture North ;)

The weather here has been rainy; great for the water tanks. Yesterday was beautiful sunny, a slight breeze and around 70 degrees. :) I missed the Alaska weather this summer.

Summer

Well...I figure I'd better do a brief update; numerous people have commented about the lack of posts recently. Sorry to those of you who've been checking the blog.
It's been a bit over two months since my last update and much has happened. Due to the internet here I will post pictures when I get home in a few weeks.

This summer has been incredible and by far the best summer in many years. Time sure flies when you're having fun. :) Since I last updated we've had prom, graduation and out of Tunt for the summer. I've been on a long road trip to the east coast touring many of the New England states and have also had the chance to do some smaller trips to visit some family and a few friends, while finding a bit of time at home to help out and spend time with my immediate family.

God has been working on certain things in my life for over a year now, things I did not understand and questioned throughout much of last year but am beginning to see reasons for why God works the way He does. The road's not always easy....sometimes drought comes before rain...I won't go into details here but God is good and much has happened.

Recently an opportunity that I've been waiting for throughout the last 7 or 8 years presented itself. I'm wondering about the timing of it and am excited beyond belief :) If I get everything worked out and it's God's will... you will hear in detail about this a few months from now.

Later this week I'll be going to visit my brothers and sister in law and will go out with my brother on his truck route. Next weekend is my last in MN and then it's homeward bound. :) (Sure hope it's cooler in AK) ;)

Have a wonderful week, and check back for pictures soon :)

Break Up

The river has been breaking up and huge chunks of ice have been flowing out for the past several days. Each day I go down by the airport it looks a little bit different. Here are some pictures I took last night.

The crystals in one chunk of ice, very pretty :)

notice that the ice isn't just a flat piece that flows out but a few feet deep

Gathering river water and ice to use at home

National Teacher Appreciation Week

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all teachers. Thanks for a job well done. To my co-workers, I'm privileged to work with you. Thanks for a great year :)

Today Frank told us we had a mandatory meeting and students were dismissed at 2:34 with a staff meeting to be held in the gym at 2:46. Pizza was flown out from Bethel by the superintendent....a tasty treat :) and Frank purchased gifts for all of us. This year we received briefcase bag things and a three year calendar. The bags are forest green ("to blend in with the grass here in the summer time") and have "Tuntutuliak Education Team" embroidered on them..thanks Frank. We are blessed to have a good boss; you could never pay me enough to take his job.

Days continue to get longer, last night it was dark but not black well after midnight. When I woke up around 5 this morning there was visible light and by 5:20 am it was fairly bright. Today brought more snow flurries along with rain...for a slushy dreary day. Only 12 more days to get up early.

Someone broke into the Post Office over the weekend so we will not receive mail until further notice (after an investigation).

Enjoy the rest of your week :)

Longer Days :)

The new water treatment plant is up and running :) You'd be surprised how nice CLEAR water looks.

The building at the airport (remodeled thanks to the hs class)

We went for a lovely walk a few nights ago around 10pm. Walked down to the airport,the air was crisp as it has cooled off again (even a few snowflakes the other day). The sun radiated down and lit everything up. With the breaking river and melting ponds everything was simply beautiful. As a friend shared with me when I sent some pics and as she tells her sunday school kids.."God could have made everything Black and white and gray....but He didn't....Ya know why???? He loves us, so He gave us all these beautiful things to see!"

Isn't the scenery pretty? Taken around 10 pm

I'm constantly reminded of the beauty and intricacy in the beauty around me; and reminded we should slow down and appreciate what's around us. Not always wish for more, wish for what we're familiar with but enjoy what we have here while we have it.

The river is starting to break up

Little kids wanted to try the camera, and kept saying "Picture Me" :)

Joann, Marie and a little one near 10 pm (look at how light it is)

This picture of the pond and sun was taken about 10:20 pm

This beautiful sunset picture was taken around 11 pm.

Have a great week, find time to have fun and relax and enjoy your surroundings :)

Busy

So..the year is drawing near a close with only 20 working days remaining. Unbelievable how fast time flies. The classes I'm taking this semester end on Wednesday...that means I have a lot of cramming to finish in the next two days. :) By the end of the week I should feel like a free woman.

This has to be one of the world's most spoiled dogs. Everytime I try to write a paper or read a book, Rocky stands next to the couch and whines then proceeds to jump on the couch as if to say..."have you forgotten me?"

The weather has warmed up considerably and the days are getting longer. This morning I saw the sun starting to rise around 5:45 am the sunset is around 11 with visible light remaining until after midnight.

This picture was taken around 10:45 pm a week or two ago.

The guys have been working on installing a water treatment facility for the school. They came in November and worked long days, up with the chickens and working til 9 at night; they endured the nasty cold weather and now the approaching spring weather. This weekend the water in the school was off as they were purifying it. In a few months when the pipes are all flushed out we should be able to drink the water (no arsenic, no rust) and our white clothes will remain white when we wash them. :) :) When they turned on a faucet this afternoon the water coming from it was clear---I never imagined that water would look so beautiful. :)

Speaking of water, I shouldn't have talked so soon about having running water in the house. Last night I took a shower and when I went into my room later discovered a pool of water under the head of my bed. I know that the pipes cannot be frozen and the sewer tank isn't showing full....hmmmm. Might have some leaky/broken pipes; won't Frank be thrilled to hear that?

Look at that face...pure innocence (haha don't let it fool you) :)

Happy Saturday

You may be asking yourself "why did Marie post this random picture?" Well...let me tell you those three things are so tasty and you grow to appreciate them when you go for months without. The speech language pathologist was in Bethel and so Kat and I asked her if she would mind shopping for us and dropping stuff off at the airport to be flown out here. She went to the store and purchased my favorite ice cream :) it was on sale for about $6 for the container. When I opened the box I was pleasantly surprised to find a container of fresh strawberries. Jana is so sweet. After getting groceries she went to subway and got us some sub sandwiches; she then took the box to the airport to ship out. Kat, Iain and I waited expectantly last night for the goodies, and they didn't come; finally Kat called the airline and they said "we decided not to fly to Tunt today" needless to say we were a bit disappointed but the box came just in time for lunch today. It was delivered to my door; free of charge.

Not much is happening here, we continue to work on winding down the year. Staff and students alike are getting more restless by the day. Weather is unpredictable...yesterday we had a hazy foggy morning, a sunny afternoon and early evening and all of a sudden the sun switched to a rainy snow mix.

Arriving home from work on Tuesday I tried to open my door...this is what I found in the entryway...what a disaster!! I turned the microwave on to fix something for supper, and it popped a breaker; guess where the breaker box is??

Inside my house this is what I found. They had the old floor torn out, insulation installed and new plywood down all while I was working... The Boss made sure I knew; no wet shoes, wet dog paws or dirt should be on the plywood or they wouldn't be able to cover it the following day. Rocky went to spend the night with Kat and Iain.And the finished product....isn't it beautiful :) The guys did a great job and what do you know? I can walk wherever I want to walk without fear of dropping through the floor ;) At first Rocky was unsure of what he thought, but has found the slippery floor very conducive for play time.

Well...all the exciting news I have for now...enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a wonderful week.

What more could a girl want?

A new floor, running water, late night sunsets and almost done with the bulk of paperwork for the year. What more could a girl want??

The past few weeks have been crazy busy and I've been a hermit in the house much of the time. They have brought added stress with a few sticky situations and brought some big smiles in other situations.

The guys spent about four hours all told, unwiring and rewiring my cable and it is up and working better than it has all year. Amidst the sewer mess my boss came to check out the problem, stepped in one of the many soft spots in my floor and said "we have to get this fixed". Based on tundra time I had limited expectations. However two weeks ago he brought somoene in to look at the floor and again on Monday of this week he asked "can I take _____ over to show him your floor?" At 9:00 yesterday morning someone showed up and started tearing up my floor; by 6 pm last night they had reinsulated and had plywood down and by 4:30 today I have a brand new tile floor. I am blessed to have it and they were very efficient in getting it ripped up and a new floor installed.

The most exciting news is that on Sunday of this past week, my water started to work again. No words can begin to express how happy running water made this girl. (I know it's sad)

In 6 short weeks I'll be headed home for the summer, again don't know where this year went. I have 25 work days left, and in 2 weeks will be done with the classes I'm taking.

Our days are getting longer and longer and everyone is getting spring fever. Tonight there was a beautiful sunset around 11 pm and it is fairly bright out by 6 am. I'm looking forward to walks near midnight in a few weeks when it is still broad daylight and everything is peaceful. :)

Have a great week :)

Snow Day

Well...what do you know? Alaska does have snow days ;) This morning I received a call from the boss about 7:45 to say we were having a snow day and will make it up on Saturday. What a perfect addition to our "Spring" break. Today is the perfect day to curl up with a cup of hot cocoa and read a good book or watch a movie, however tomorrow will probably be the perfect day to play in the snow. The best news is that it has warmed up considerably. The current temp is 12F/-11C and feels like -7F/-22C with the windchill. Hope all of you are doing well, have a beautiful day.

The front of my house taken 11:30 am

Between my house and the school...the snow is a little over knee high in most places.

Spring Break

Well...spring break is nearly over. We had last Thursday off for Spring Break (happy 1st day of spring March 21st) and We are given one free day to put into the schedule anywhere we want. So the boss put the free day in on Friday and we had an additional day off :) Was a welcome break, but went by so fast.

On Thursday, Nick and Dana planned to head out for some Manuking (forgive the spelling) otherwise known as jigging/ice fishing. Iain and I joined them. It was so nice to get out of the village for awhile, and the ride out on the river was absolutely amazing, a bit bumpy but so beautiful. If you ever want to visit the tundra let me know ;) Maybe I can get Iain to take you for a ride on the snow go or in the sled. ;) When we got out to the holes, Nick set to work chiseling through the ice that had formed since the previous Sunday. Iain was set up at the first hole and I got the second hole, by the time Nick and Dana started chiseling away at their holes, I had my first fish. (well...my only fish) Had a wonderful time but got way too cold. Came home and my feet were so so cold, as soon as they felt the warm air and started to thaw they hurt like nothing else. Needless to say, in the past two days I've ordered a new winter wardrobe.

Nick chiseling the ice out of the holes so we can fish

Not too much happened on Friday, stayed home did some homework and continued to thaw out my frozen feet. However I did have some excitement...as I was talking to Ehab about 3 am on Saturday morning I walked into my room for something and discovered sewer water pooling under the head of my bed. YUCK!!! The pipes seem to have been frozen for awhile and now...i turned water on to brush teeth and my bedroom flooded. Called the boss yesterday and he came to have a look. He thinks my sewer tanks is frozen as well as the pipe leading to the sewer so we plugged the heater back in, and when the tank thaws the heat should radiate up and thaw the pipe. Pretty much we have to wait until the weather warms up to help thaw things out. Meanwhile, I will use the school for all my water....life in the Tundra. ;)

If I close my eyes will it go away?

Last night I was invited out for supper, I went over to Kat and Iain's for Curry. It was my first time to try it and it was excellent :) Iain is a great cook. For desert Kat made "The Cake"...It was a wonderful evening out and the cousine was superb.
For more pictures you should check out Iain's blog: http://fouldsy.com